ELAINE MARSILIO/CALLER-TIMES
Brownsville teen Jehu Gonzalez, 16, talks with Santa on Tuesday on a radio frequency at Driscoll Children’s Hospital with the help of frequency operator David George.

ELAINE MARSILIO/CALLER-TIMES
Santa buttons were given to children who spoke with Santa on Tuesday via a satellite radio frequency at Driscoll Children’s Hospital. Volunteers with the Corpus Christi Amateur Radio Club monitored the radio frequencies while children spoke to St. Nick.

CORPUS CHRISTI - The voice crackling through the radio transmitter at Driscoll Children’s Hospital on Tuesday seemed to know everything, far more than whether the young patients had been naughty or nice.

He knew that one boy liked skateboarding and a 7-year-old girl wanted a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. He was able to tell what they were wearing, whether family members were in the room with them and even that one patient’s favorite blanket was on her bed.

Despite the distance, and technical difficulties that at times disrupted the radio connection to the North Pole, Santa was spot on.

“Well, I knew Michael Jackson,” Santa told her before she let him know she had one of the late singer’s CDs.

St. Nick talked with as many patients as he could Tuesday using two satellite radio frequencies relaying information to each other. Volunteers with the Corpus Christi Amateur Radio Club monitored the radio frequencies, transmitting conversations between the children and Santa for the event, in its fourth year.

Marissa Wiggins-Long, 7, sat up in her hospital bed, leaned in toward a microphone and told Santa she wanted a Nintendo Wii.

“Do you want anything else?” Santa asked.

Marissa, who is being treated for asthma, smiled and said softly, “No.”

She also told Santa she may be in Dallas for Christmas.

“It’s important Santa knows you are going to Dallas or I don’t know where to leave the stuff,” Santa said.

That wasn’t the only information Santa passed on to patients.

When Santa asked Zandayra if she wrote him a letter with her wish list and learned the answer was no, he told her he still could fit in some extra gifts on his sleigh.